Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Has $9.80 Million Stock Position in NiSource, Inc $NI

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its position in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 243,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in NiSource were worth $9,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in NiSource by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,844,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,439,236,000 after purchasing an additional 3,050,420 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in NiSource by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,020,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $962,997,000 after purchasing an additional 2,650,827 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in NiSource by 88.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,535,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $221,935,000 after purchasing an additional 2,605,923 shares during the last quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource in the 1st quarter valued at about $98,682,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource in the 1st quarter valued at about $71,839,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on NI shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of NiSource to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NiSource in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of NiSource from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.00.

NiSource Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NI stock opened at $43.45 on Wednesday. NiSource, Inc has a 12-month low of $34.23 and a 12-month high of $44.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $42.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.84. The company has a market capitalization of $20.46 billion, a PE ratio of 23.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. NiSource had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 8.25%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.57%.

About NiSource

NiSource Inc, an energy holding company, operates as a regulated natural gas and electric utility company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Gas Distribution Operations and Electric Operations. The company distributes natural gas to approximately 3.3 million customers through approximately 55,000 miles of distribution main pipeline and the associated individual customer service lines; and 1,000 miles of transmission main pipeline in northern Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland.